Social Housing in the Amazon

Located in Manaus, Brazil, the project reimagines the social housing model by integrating Amazonian riverine culture through a design inspired by traditional stilt and floating houses.

The project is part of research aimed at providing housing for Manaus' low-income riverside population, currently living in precarious and risky conditions. It also serves as a critique of current social housing production, which often employs generic models that overlook the social and cultural nuances specific to the Amazon region.

Emphasizing the importance of rescuing the qualities of vernacular riverside architecture, the project incorporates features in its design familiar to residents of stilt and floating houses. Therefore, it allows the residents to identify with the house while valuing the Amazonian way of life and local knowledge. Architecture takes shape according to the culture and not the other way around.

Population as a Protagonist:
Throughout the project execution, the local population would assume a protagonist role. Starting from the supply of building materials to the engineering and use of labour force, hence strengthening the local economy.
Once completed, the complex would not only offer quality housing but also a space that fosters culture and leisure activities. As a result, a sense of community is created and empowered.
The access to those activities is intended for not only the residents of the complex, but also the surrounding communities. In that way, the complex generates a micro local economy and cultural center for the region.

Nature and Architecture Integrated:
Amazon basin water levels vary throughout the seasons and, therefore, the building structure needs to adapt according to those changes. The design of the housing complex was inspired by the traditional Amazon architecture in such a manner that is in harmony with the people and its environment.
The way this is done is by elevating the complex from the ground, as a reference to the popular stilt house. A floating floor, that varies in accordance with flood and ebb seasons, is also created, which is a common technique found in floating houses of the region, that allows for a continuous dialog with the local landscape.
A requalification of the landscape is also done through the creation of a park that dialogues with the cultural and leisure spaces of the project.

Resource and environmental performance:
Aiming environmental sustainability, the project makes the best of available natural resources:
The rain water is harvested and utilized in toilets. Sewage water is treated so it does not further pollute rivers and can eventually be reutilized.
Solar energy is an alternative renewable energy used to provide electricity to the complex.
Thermal comfort is done naturally by the dissipation of heat through cross ventilation. Also, the roof protects the interior spaces from direct rays of sunlight.
The main structure of the building is made of reforested wood from Community Forest Management, which, during growth, absorbs carbon dioxide and generates less residues during the construction phase.
The building does not touch the ground, causing a smaller impact on the existing land and vegetation.

"The high quality of this resilient architecture was unanimously acknowledged and considered an inspiration for similar projects elsewhere in the world."- Holcim Awards jury for Latin America.

The project has been recognized in numerous architecture awards such as: Next Generation 1st Prize Latin America Holcim Awards | Motion of Congratulations by the Manaus City Council | 1st Prize IE Architecture and Design Prize | 1st Prize ENANPARQ-Brasília (National Association for Research and Graduate Studies in Architecture and Urbanism) | ARCHI NOW - Sustainability First Steppers Contest | World Arch-student Best Project Selection Book.

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Social Housing in the Amazon

Social Housing in the Amazon

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